Son of the Moon
by musicbooksandfandoms
Summary: Aiden's life hasn't been the same since his girlfriend died in the Titan War, but he's trying his best. His best friend Annabeth is paying all her attention to Percy, and rightfully so. This is the story of life after the Titan War. OCs/Annabeth/Percy


**A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson story or any of the characters except Aiden, Taylor, and Sam. Everything else belongs to Rick Riordan. I hope you guys like it! **

**The Son of the Moon**

**Chapter 1:**

Today, everybody was coming to Camp Halfblood for summer camp, so naturally year-rounder Aiden Hayes went out by the shore where Long Island Sound met Camp Half Blood, to skip rocks into the water and avoid the onslaught of teenage girls meeting up with their girl friends or half brothers and sisters again. It was always quieter out here, a good place to think, but lately he didn't trust his thoughts. He desperately tried to let his mind go blank, trying to make sure his mind didn't wander to things that were… unpleasant. Of course, he failed.

It had been close ten months since the battle against Kronos and his army had taken place. Ten months since his best friend Luke had helped Kronos try to take down the gods of Olympus. Ten months since he had lost his girlfriend Taylor. _Ten months, _he thought, as he skipped another stone into the ocean. He closed his eyes and memories rushed into his head: a beautiful brunette, shooting an arrow at a target from 300 yards away and hitting the bull's eye, the brunette throwing her head back in laughter, the same girl screaming as a dracanae stabbed her with a knife dipped in poison. He remembered the way she looked, lying on the ground, helpless, bleeding out, poison running through her veins. He remembered how he held her as she was dying, telling her he would fix her, telling her it would all be okay. He remembered the lights going out of her eyes as she lay there lifeless, dead. He remembered shutting her eyelids for good, kissing her already cooling forehead as death set in, and walking away, covered in her blood.

Aiden pulled himself out of the reverie and with a scream, threw the rock as hard as he could into the water. He knew her death was his fault, despite what his best friend Annabeth had told him. Even Taylor's best friend Samantha or Sam for short had forgiven him. He should have protected her, should have made it so that he always had one eye on her at all times. After all, he was fighting with her so he could step in if she got into trouble. He failed. He failed her. He failed all of her friends, all of her half brothers and sisters in the Apollo cabin, her parents. And for the last ten months that everyone has been gone for school, he has been beating himself up for it.

Annabeth, after not seeing Percy since spring break, was eager to find him. She knew that the shore where Long Island Sound met Camp was his favorite spot and hoped he'd be there. It was a good starting place at least. From a distance she saw a shock of black hair on the beach. _Percy,_ she thought and started running for him. As she got closer she realized it wasn't Percy, it was one of her best friends, Aiden.

She and Aiden had some history. When she, Luke and Thalia were on their long journey to Camp Half-Blood when she was seven, they had stumbled across a dirty eight year old boy, walking alone in the woods with nothing but a pocket knife and the clothes, albeit shredded and filthy, on his back. They took him in and helped him get to Camp Half-Blood. When you go through something like that together, you become friends. Luke and Aiden had been practically inseparable, truly best friends. It wasn't hard when you were in the same cabin. Hermes cabin, while intended for all of Hermes' children like Luke, also housed all of the kids who hadn't been claimed yet, such as Aiden. So no, technically they weren't blood brothers, but they might as well have been. Annabeth remembered how broken up Aiden had been about finding out that Luke was a traitor. He had always thought it was his fault, like he could have convinced Luke to not help Kronos, to not to become Kronos. She always tried to dissuade him, but every time he would shrug her off. Same thing would happen when she tried to convince him that Taylor's death wasn't his fault. Annabeth didn't take Luke's death quite as hard as Aiden did, but going through it wasn't exactly fun.

Annabeth tried not to sound disappointed to see Aiden standing there instead of Percy, after all he was one of her best friends, but still, a little bit crept in to her voice, "Oh, hey Aiden." She said as she stood next to him.

"You're disappointed." He said matter-of-factly. Annabeth wasn't normally this easy to read, but when you've known her as long as he has, any precedents of normal had been thrown out the window.

Annabeth didn't bother denying it; he had known her long enough to know when she was lying. "I thought you were Percy. I haven't seen him since spring break and I'm just really excited to see him, y'know? I'm not exactly disappointed, just a little caught off guard."

Aiden shrugged, trying to show that her words didn't hurt him as much as they did. "I'm sorry I'm not Percy," he said without any emotion in his voice as he stared out at the sound.

Her face flushed as she realized what a mess she had made. "I didn't mean it like that Aiden…" She started but Aiden had cut her off.

He had already begun to stand as he said, "No you don't have to explain yourself Annabeth; it's alright. I get it," he had gotten to his feet and met her gray eyes with his, "It's nice to see you too." He gave her a small smile and then left, heading back to the camp.

Annabeth didn't bother going after him. She knew the best way to deal with this was to let him cool off a little. Aiden was actually quite a forgiving person, forgiving of everybody but himself. She'd talk to him at dinner and it will be like nothing had happened.

Still she couldn't shake off this feeling that something was really off with him. Sure, his life hadn't been a picnic these last few months, but knowing Aiden she'd at least thought he would make it harder to tell that he was hurting. He wasn't much for sharing his emotions so he always tried to mask them. Even when she, Luke, and Thalia had found him, you wouldn't have been able to tell it had only been a week since his parents had been killed right in front of him by monsters. It took a lot of Thalia's coaxing to get it out of him. And when Annabeth and Luke tried to console him, he shrugged it off like it had never happened. That's how Aiden dealt with grief, by holding it in. She never knew if he ever actually dealt with it or what, but it seemed to have worked up until now. She knew she was going to have to talk to him later.


End file.
